Intelligence

Yesterday the Wall Street Journal’s Adam Entous reported in a page-one story leaked by the Obama administration that “Israel spied on Iran talks with US” (accessible here via Google). John commented on the story here. I want to offer a few additional notes on the story: • This “spying” story was leaked to Entous by “senior White House officials.” The leak complements the Obama administration’s public campaign against the Netanyahu »

CIA Director John Brennan appeared for an interview on FOX News Sunday with Chris Wallace (video below, 22 minutes). At the outset of the interview, Wallace asked tough questions related to the deal in process with Iran. In context, despite the gravity of the questions, Brennan’s expressions of comfort and assurance on the part of President Obama and Secretary Kerry come across almost laughable. At 5:00, Wallace asks Brennan which »

Iran and Hezbollah have gone missing from the Terrorism section of this year’s Worldwide Threat Assessment of the Intelligence Community. In recent years, the threats raised by Iran and/or Hezbollah were duly noted in the assessment of terrorist threats presented to Congress by DNI James Clapper. This year we need to send out an APB. The subject is important. Subject to correction, I tentatively offer the following in the spirit »

Appearing on Greta Van Susteren’s FOX News show last night, Catherine Herridge and John Bolton followed up on the disappearance of Iran and Hezbollah from the list of terror threats 2015 Worldwide Threat Assessment of the Intelligence Community issued by the Director of National Intelligence (video below, also posted here along with a partial transcript). I believe the disappearance was first reported here by the Times of Israel. Ambassador Bolton »

Eli Lake reports that ISIS fighters captured in Iraq — of whom there reportedly are almost 100 so far — are being interrogated by Iraqis, not by U.S. intelligence officers. Thus, we’re left to rely on reports from Iraqis to obtain information from the captives. This may not be all bad. U.S. interrogation policy severely limits what we can do to extract information from terrorists. It’s likely, moreover, that ISIS »

Steve Coll is dean of the Columbia Journalism School and an accomplished reporter in his own right. He is a staff writer for the New Yorker and the author of Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan and bin Laden and the Soviet Invasion, From the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2011, among other books. He reports on issues of intelligence and national security and in the journalism »

Former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling was convicted on nine counts alleging violation of the Espionage Act; Sterling blew a highly classified Clinton-era operation intended to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program. He did so to no discernible public good; the crimes of which he now stands convicted are truly heinous. Here is how reporter Matt Apuzzo describes Sterling’s conviction in the lead paragraph of his page-one New York Times story: “Jeffrey A. »

Jeffrey Sterling, a former Central Intelligence Agency officer, was convicted of espionage today. He was charged with telling a journalist about a secret operation to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program. The journalist was James Risen of the New York Times. Scott has written extensively about this case, focusing on Risen’s disclosure of Sterling’s secrets and the government’s unwillingness to require the journalist to testify in the case. Fortunately, Sterling was convicted »

New York Times reporter Matt Apuzzo joined the Times in 2012. He’s a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter, but his article on the testimony of Condoleezza Rice at the trial of Jeffrey Sterling last week suggests he doesn’t know much about the Times. During her tenure as Secretary of State, Rice met with Times editors to persuade them not to publish James Risen’s draft article disclosing the highly classified, Clinton-era CIA »

Last week the government commenced its prosecution of former CIA official Jeffrey Sterling for violation of the Espionage Act. The government alleges that Sterling leaked the details of a program intended to undermine Iran’s nuclear program to New York Times reporter James Risen. The program was subject to a security classification indicating its extreme sensitivity. Sterling did not publicly disclose the details of the CIA program; he laundered them through »

In his observations on terrorism in Belgium, John writes that electronic surveillance of some sort very likely played a role in enabling the authorities to strike before the terrorists could carry out their planned attack. John is right. But we don’t need to look to Belgium to see the critical role such surveillance plays in protecting against terrorism. Recently, authorities here in the U.S. were able to prevent an attack »

New York Times reporter James Risen was subpoenaed to testify in the prosecution of CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling. Sterling is under prosecution for blowing a CIA program intended to undermine Iran’s nuclear program. The program was subject to a security classification indicating its extreme sensitivity. To no discernible public good, Risen publicized the program in his book State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration. »

In my post last night listing Tom Cotton’s committee assignments, I failed to include the Select Committee on Intelligence. Arguably, this is the Senator’s must important assignment. We live in a time when defense budgets are being slashed and the U.S. president is largely unwilling to put American boots on the ground, even to fight bloody thirsty terrorists with designs on attacking America. In this environment, our intelligence professionals are »

One of the nobler, if not the only noble purpose of publicly releasing the Feinsten report was to fuel public debate about the very harsh interrogation techniques used in some instances by the CIA after 9/11. Predictably, though, the rekindled debate has been as stale as the original version had become. In any event, the returns from the debate are in. A Pew Research survey shows that, by a wide »

New York Times reporter James Risen is under subpoena to testify in the prosecution of CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling. Sterling is under prosecution for blowing a CIA program intended to undermine Iran’s nuclear program. The program was classified beyond top secret. To no discernible public good, Risen publicized the program in his book State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration. The government thinks that »

John Brennan spoke to the press yesterday about Dianne Feinstein’s travesty of a report on past CIA interrogation practices. It’s highly unusual for the CIA director to hold take questions from the media, but Brennan did. Unusual though Brennan’s appearance was, the Washington Post, which has devoted its front page to story after story on Feinstein’s hit-job, relegates Brennan to page 14. The Post, it appears, is only marginally more »

John Hinderaker took a preliminary look at the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Democrats’ report on the CIA detention and interrogation program here. I am still trying to get a handle on what the Democrats have done. I offer the partial list of sources and commentary below as a resource to others like me trying to understand what has happened here. Dianne Feinstein et al., Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, »